"Republican lawmakers say the data could still address U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and had ties with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which carried out the September 11 attacks"

Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, Republicans who lobbied for the data's release, said it was important that the information be made available quickly to the public, including political "blogs."

"We're hoping to unleash the power of the Internet, unleash the power of the blogosphere, to get through these documents and give us a better understanding of what was going on in Iraq before the war," said Hoekstra, chairman of the House of Representatives' Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence."

Hoekstra said during an interview today that the 9/11 Commission finding of "No collaborative relationship"between Iraq and al Qaeda", was a bit premature, therefore leaving open the possibility for the matter to be reopened.

This in fact has been the plan for some time. Almost like a poker bluff, you know, let the left think it's won and then hit 'em with the Ace High.

Back here in American Thinker we learned that George Bush was an excellent poker player:

Thomas Lifson wrote:

"One final note on George W. Bush’s management style and his Harvard Business School background does not derive from the classroom, per se. One feature of life there is that a subculture of poker players exists. Poker is a natural fit with the inclinations, talents, and skills of many future entrepreneurs. A close reading of the odds, combined with the ability to out-psych the opposition, leads to capital accumulation in many fields, aside from the poker table.

By reputation, the President was a very avid and skillful poker player when he was an MBA student. One of the secrets of a successful poker player is to encourage your opponent to bet a lot of chips on a losing hand. This is a pattern of behavior one sees repeatedly in George W. Bush’s political career. He is not one to loudly proclaim his strengths at the beginning of a campaign. Instead, he bides his time, does not respond forcefully, a least at first, to critiques from his enemies, no matter how loud and annoying they get. If anything, this apparent passivity only goads them into making their case more emphatically."

Question: Why do you think both Bush and Cheney and the rest of the Administration have stuck to the connection like glue driving the MSM absolutely nuts?

Think about it - the documents are being translated quickly, and believe it or not, like it or not, Bush is actually holding the cards.

Fact is that the Democrats "shot their wad" and now as the connections between Saddam and Al Qaeda become clearer and clearer, that will open the door for more revelations to come.

Revelations that will show that all along the President was right and the Democrats at the cost of our national security and only for their selfish ambitions sold us all down the river - in some cases committing treason - just to win an election and get back power. Oh, and there's that thing about payback for trying to impeach Billy.

I think the poker word is "Showdown".

UPDATE: Michelle Malkinhas the MSM take or rather un-take of the documents translated so-far. Like I said, get ready their going to try and shoot this down as they have a lot riding on keeping the myth of "no connection" active.